Chun Cao fired a few clean shots to eliminate the zombies gathering again, then leaped across the rapid stream, climbing wet onto the shore, and quickly scaling halfway up the mountain wall.
Yan Hao cut the parachute cord, leaning into a crevice on the vertical wall, breathing heavily before barely saying: “Now I know how Si Nan feels when he was slammed against the car window…”
“What are you thinking,” Chun Cao said, “Si Nan just wiped his nosebleed and still looked beautiful, but you’re about to swell up like a pig… Here, take a sanitary pad, wipe the blood quickly, don’t attract all the zombies in the area.”
Yan Hao opened the pink packaging, using the pad to absorb the gushing nosebleed, and asked: “Where are Da Ding and Xiang Zi?”
“Don’t know, they came down later and probably haven’t caught up yet. Where’s the signal smoke?”
Yan Hao tilted his chin forward.
A yellow signal smoke rose in the canyon’s depths, at nine o’clock true north, rising to the sky.
Ten minutes later, the gunfire stopped, with zombies lying everywhere by the stream.
Chun Cao and Yan Hao, rifles in hand, began moving towards the signal smoke.
This place was far from isolated, but the path was even more difficult than a primitive forest, with rocky, narrow, and treacherous terrain. Some sections were so slippery that one could fall, with the best-case scenario being a bloody head, and the worst being completely broken bones.
Yan Hao moved sideways, holding his breath, back tight against the cliff, walking step by step, suddenly blurting out:
“Si Nan crashed here back then, fell into these deep mountains, and walked this path to seek help?”
“Right,” Chun Cao said casually behind him, “but he should have gone in the opposite direction, towards the canyon exit.”
“Still not easy, especially while carrying serious injuries.”
“Mm.”
They fell silent for a moment, hearing distant, blurry gunshots and shouting, likely teammates firing to break through after landing, with the sounds quickly fading.
Chun Cao secretly glanced at Yan Hao, hesitating internally before finally clearing her throat:
“That…”
Yan Xiao Hao, do you still have feelings for Si Xiao Nan?”
Yan Hao, holding a gun with one hand and supporting himself on the rock with the other, said after a long pause: “Maybe a little.”
“So… what do you like about him?”
“I don’t know. At first, I just thought he saved us, was young, and wanted to take care of him. Later, I noticed he’s usually barely noticeable, not talkative, but always steps up to save people at critical moments, even risking his life to save me several times. Slowly, it just… became different.”
Chun Cao couldn’t help asking: “But isn’t that just gratitude?”
“Maybe at first. I’ve never seen an Omega like this, no, I’ve never seen a person like this. This love that evolved from gratitude and admiration is something I’ve felt for the first time. After he and Rong-ge mutually marked each other, seeing him look so satisfied, I thought maybe it’s fine. Isn’t loving someone just wanting to see them happy? Even if that happiness doesn’t come from me, it’s okay.”
Chun Cao listened quietly.
“I thought this way until the day Rong-ge was infected, when he questioned why I didn’t sacrifice myself,” Yan Hao’s voice softened, almost mumbling, “That’s when I realized… I was still a little sad.”
Five minutes earlier, South Sea Headquarters.
“The first communication from the front has arrived!
A lieutenant in the communications office announced loudly: “It’s from Lieutenant Chun Cao… uh, connecting to Colonel Zhou’s temporary channel.”
“Hm?” Zhou Rong looked up: “They need field guidance so soon?”
The lieutenant respectfully moved aside, Zhou Rong sat down, put on the headset, and heard through the crackling static an unclear voice:
“The day Rong-ge was infected… I realized I was still a little sad…”
Zhou Rong: “…
In the communication room, staff were intently listening to the latest feedback from search and rescue teams across the country. General Zheng shouted into the phone, “What? What do you mean you parachuted and landed right on top of a pile of zombies? Colonel Tang! Speak clearly!”
A young lieutenant stood nervously nearby. Zhou Rong gestured for him to leave, indicating he could handle the situation.
“Do you need me to do something?” Chun Cao’s voice came through the private channel. “Or should I talk to Xiao Si Nan and have him apologize to you?”
Zhou Rong held his breath lightly. After a moment, he heard Yan Hao’s muffled bitter laugh. “No, what does it have to do with Si Nan? He only hurts people because he’s telling the truth.”
After a long time, the sound of a babbling brook suddenly became clear, probably indicating they had reached the bottom of the canyon. Chun Cao’s voice came through the earpiece, “Rong Ge? Are you there?
Zhou Rong glanced around. “Keep your voice down. Can Yan Hao hear?”
“No, he’s in front. We’re almost at the gathering point.”
“Does he show any signs of mutating into a man-eating flower?”
“Not yet, but who knows… I think his mood isn’t great…”
“Keep him in the dog’s tail flower state. Don’t trigger the man-eating flower mode,” Zhou Rong said gravely. “Later, I’ll have Xiao Si Nan come to the communication room to chat with him.”
Chun Cao replied, “Understood. Oh! I see Da Ding and Xiang Zi! We’re almost at the gathering point. We’ll talk later!”
On a small rocky beach in the canyon, yellow smoke signals rose into the sky. Zombies were densely packed around, more than a hundred. Tang Hao had clearly been through a fierce battle. His parachute hung on a nearby treetop, his body splattered with black blood and rotten flesh, exhaustedly kneeling by the stream and cupping water to wash his face.
Over a dozen team members had already gathered. Guo Weixiang saw the two of them and was shocked: “Team flower! What happened to your face? Did you land face-first?”
Chun Cao immediately tried to signal him to shut up. Immediately after, Ding Shi, carrying a gun, walked through the rocky beach.
Looking up, his expression changed dramatically: “Deputy team! What happened to your face? Did you land face-first?”
Yan Hao: “…”
Chun Cao forcibly dragged them away by their necks. Yan Hao went to the small stream to wash the dried blood from his face. Just as he squatted down, Tang Hao unexpectedly looked up, and their eyes met.
After five seconds of eerie silence, Yan Hao coldly said, “Face first…”
Tang Hao interrupted him: “No, no need to say. Everyone has unlucky moments.”
Yan Hao was stunned by his understanding. The next second, Tang Hao suddenly laughed and swiftly pulled out a spy’s micro camera—
Click!
Tang Hao ran away, and Yan Hao roared: “Come back!”
Half an hour later, Yan Hao finally ran around the rocky beach, panting and leaning on his knees. Tang Hao stopped, throwing the camera into his tactical bag and clapping: “Everyone gather and count off!”
Team members from various parts of the mountain gradually converged on the open ground. Tang Hao suddenly felt something was wrong. After having everyone line up and count off, he discovered something was amiss—four people were missing.
How could they be missing? Did something go wrong during the parachute jump?
The canyon’s parachute jump was already high-risk, with numerous zombies nearby. An accident would be understandable. But four special forces soldiers had disappeared without a sound, which seemed very suspicious.
Tang Hao pondered for a moment, looking up. The narrow sky above the canyon was getting darker, almost 6 PM.
Once night fell, hordes of zombies would become very dangerous for them.
